Fairfield on doorstep of MAAC immortality after outlasting Marist

Jalen Leach (3) is one of several senior guards to lead Fairfield to doorstep of MAAC championship. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Pete Janny (@pete_janny)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Late in the second half Friday, with Fairfield ahead by four points, Caleb Fields and Max Allen hit the deck in pursuit of a loose ball that was knocked away into the Stags’ backcourt.

Of many physical plays between Fairfield and Marist in Friday night’s semifinals, the visual of that loose ball captured all the emotions and desires of the MAAC-infused madness which has taken over Atlantic City this week.

Fairfield fell behind early, came back, and then engineered one last run in the second half to secure a 65-61 win over Marist to set up appointment television for mid-major college basketball fans when the Stags meet Saint Peter’s on Championship Saturday in Atlantic City.

The Stags are back in the MAAC Championship game for the first time since the 2020-2021 season, when they launched a mini Cinderella run as the No. 7 seed but fell short versus Iona. 

Last time, it was under a different coach and with players who are no longer around. This year, Fairfield found a mojo that could rival some of those illustrious seasons split between the 1980s with Mitch Buonaguro and the 1990s under Paul Cormier. The Stags made the NCAA Tournament three times across the span of both decades, capturing the hearts and imaginations of a fan base who have long dreamed of restoring that basketball glory to Connecticut’s only Jesuit university. 

It became apparent in the opening stages of semifinals that Fairfield was going to have to scratch and claw at Marist the whole night. The Stags fell behind 7-0, and then 12-4 when Kam Farris knocked home a three at the 15:05 mark of the first half. 

The follow-up act to Quinnipiac’s heartbreaking loss at the buzzer to Saint Peter’s was not looking good early for Fairfield, who early on was pressured into playing a grind-it-out style of possession basketball that Marist has espoused as good as any program around these parts. But Fairfield kept doing what it knows best, which is to attack its opponent until they show any signs of weakness. Despite some badly missed shots off of poor selection, the connectivity and body language looked better from the Stags than when they were completely shut down exactly two weeks prior at Marist. 

That patience paid off coming out of a timeout, with the Stags closing the first half on an 11-2 run over the final five minutes. Fairfield went into the locker room only down 32-30, and with momentum on its side.

Once the pace started to pick up in the second half, the sense that Marist would lose steam itself started to feel real. With the emergence of Jalen Leach and Caleb Fields, it was a matter of when, not if the Stags would start scoring at a rate that would make Marist uncomfortable.

“We always say effort overcomes mistakes,” head coach Chris Casey said. “Basketball is a high possession game, so there’s always going to be mistakes. What’s important is the effort level, and I think that helped us force deflections and put them into situations where they rushed shots.”

Fairfield took a 37-36 lead on a three-pointer from Jasper Floyd, which prompted an unexpected 7-0 run from the Red Foxes that included two threes from freshman Josh Pascarelli. Once Marist extended its lead to nine with 13:28 left, Fairfield started to play with a chip on its shoulder, which was consummated by the play of Peyton Smith off the bench.

Smith’s layup, plus the foul off the fast break at the 11:39 mark, cut the deficit to 50-46. He finished with nine points on 3-for-6 shooting from the field and 3-for-3 from the free throw line, and by virtue, had his best game in two months, when he posted 17 points and eight rebounds in a winning effort at Canisius.

“I thought that was a big play for us,” Casey said of Smith’s and-1. “We had 18 points off turnovers. When you force turnovers, you get up the floor in transition. (Marist is) so good defensively that you have to get out in transition and get some easy baskets.” 

The dam officially broke with a 11-0 run that was supplied by both Fields and Leach. First, Fields hit a three-pointer preceded by a contentious charge call on Allen, and then Leach put the Stags back on top when his backdoor cut led to a feed from Brycen Goodine for an easy two.

Looking back, the charge on Allen was huge, and so was his missed free throw on the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity with six seconds left in regulation and Marist down two. Those moments overshadowed what was otherwise a strong outing for the big man, who finished with 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field. 

After the game, Casey consoled Allen in an emotional handshake line for the young Red Foxes. The gesture of sportsmanship from Casey was a reminder of how even the teams that fall short should not be forgotten in the face of defeat. 

“I’m obviously very happy that we won and happy for our guys, but at the same time it bothers you to see that, so I just tried to give him a little bit of lift,” Casey said of his exchange with Allen. “This is hard because all of the players and us coaches know how much work is put into this.”

In triumph or defeat, Fairfield has conducted itself with grace, led by the example of Casey. The players were happy to see their coach rewarded with a contract extension on Tuesday, just a few hours before the Stags departed for Atlantic City.

“Coach Casey deserved that,” said Fields. “One hundred percent, he deserved that. Credit to Paul Schlickmann, our athletic director, for giving him that opportunity. Coach Casey loves us. It’s all genuine love in the locker room and it’s easy playing for him.”

Casey’s veteran group has been everything he has wanted and more. Not only is this a redemption tour for Casey, who never made it past the quarterfinals round in six seasons as Niagara’s head coach, but it’s a feel-good story for most of his players, who have fought to overcome adversity.

“They’ve adapted really well,” Casey said. “I’m just really happy for all of them because they all have had journeys. To see them as young men and preserve to get to this point, I really enjoyed watching them.” 

Tonight doesn’t feel like another game, although the players are mentally preparing for it that way. The storyline for the Stags is the history that is on the line for a program that has been in the doldrums for too long, with 27 years separating them from their last NCAA Tournament berth. 

“We’re very aware of it, but at the same time we’re focused on one game at a time,” Leach said. “We have one more game and can’t look too far ahead, but obviously it means a lot for our school, our program, and our supporters who we appreciate every day.”